KATHMANDU, July 22: The Nepal Communist Party (NCP) has sorted out leadership dispute over some key departments as the ruling party expedites discussions to give full shape to the party’s structures. 

Leaders said that the party secretariat, which has intensified internal discussions since last week, has agreed on the chiefs of the party’s organization department, international department and the policy department – the three key departments at the heart of contention – while negotiations are underway for other 29 departments. 

As per the understanding, NCP senior leader Madhav Kumar Nepal and Bam Dev Gautam will head the international department and the organization department respectively, while Jhala Nath Khanal is likely to head the policy and foundation department. 

“The organization department is mine. I don’t know about other departments,’’ Gautam told the media following a meeting on Sunday. 

There are still some disputes over the schooling department, the publicity department and the finance department, considered among other coveted departments in the party.

NPC secretariat member Ishwar Pokharel and Narayan Kaji Shrestha have expressed their interest for the schooling department. But leadership is also under pressure to give the department to someone from outside the nine-member secretariat. Some frontrunners for the department include Bhim Rawal and Ghanashyam Bhusal. 

Shrestha, who is also the party’s spokesperson, has been proposed to head the party’s publicity department. Sources said that Subas Nembang is likely to lead the party’s parliamentary department. Three top guns – Chairmen KP Oli and Pushpa Kamal Dahal and General Secretary Bishnu Paudel – have agreed not to take responsibility of any department.

The Maoist faction will head 14 out of 32 departments including the publicity and finance departments.

Following rounds of meeting, the party on Sunday unveiled the final list of the party’s in-charge for all district chapters. The list includes several high-profile faces including Information Minister Gokul Baskota (Kavre), Land Management Minister Padma Aryal (Syangja) and Karnali Province Chief Minister Mahendra Bahadur Shahi (Kalikot). Similarly, other notable names are federal MP Birodh Khatiwada and former Foreign Minister Mahendra Pandey. 

With the selection of the district in-charge, the party has come one step closer to concluding the merger that started a year ago. 

NPC spokesperson Shrestha said that the party would soon decide the leadership of all the departments and members of party’s two commissions, advisory committee and the senior members’ forum.

 
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